Fifth Wheel
by Bloody Mary
Summary: Feeling unneccessary can lead to befriending people, you'd never expect to become friends with. It still takes time, but it's a start. [series of drabbles, Zuko and Sokka friendship]
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own _Avatar: The Last Airbender._

**Fifth Wheel**

Sokka was thinking. He was thinking deeply and profoundly, something which people did not suspect him of. However, it happened quite often that he would consider something. Like now. The object of his thoughts was sitting opposite to him and trying to glare his eyes out.

_I wonder if he practiced that?_ Sokka wondered, the seriousness perishing from his thoughts.

He remembered himself doing just that – practising various intimidating expressions while staring into the water or into a mirror. He did need to know if he got them right and it seemed rather natural that another young man would worry about it too. A warrior couldn't look like some pansy, could he?

A moment later he was back to his original thought and nearly ready to ask Zuko a question. Still, he decided against it. It wasn't like the other would answer and in all probability Sokka would be risking getting torched or something similar. Instead, he settled for something more neutral.

"Why do you carry swords?" he asked.

"Why do people carry swords?" the prince growled back. His tone was indicating clearly just how stupid the question was.

"You're a bender."

This time Zuko didn't say anything – he only glared.

Sokka nearly smirked. Even if Zuko didn't reply verbally, his reaction was enough of an answer. But he wasn't about to say what he figured out. He was neither stupid, nor did he enjoy getting hurt.

He wasn't sure when this thought first occurred to him, but it didn't want to leave him for a while. It made him stop giving Zuko suspicious, hostile looks. Actually, it made him feel related to the banished prince. After all, they were in similar situations.

Who needed a non-bender and somebody who was just above average, when you had prodigies and experienced veterans? It wasn't always like that, but Sokka guessed that sometimes they both felt unnecessary.

_A/N_

_I'm not sure if I got Sokka right, but I was aiming for a serious mood and seriousness isn't very Sokka-esque, I guess. Anyway, I do think that those two have certain things in common._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own _Avatar: The Last Airbender_.

**Fifth Wheel**

Zuko was feeling uncomfortable and he dealt with it in a very simple way: he got angry. Not very angry, but enough to send a nasty glare at the teen opposite to him. It really was a pity that Sokka didn't seem to mind. If anything it only made him stare more.

The banished prince frowned deeper. Why wasn't this working? He could look frightening when he wanted to, couldn't he?

"Why do you carry swords?" Sokka asked out of the sudden.

It confused Zuko, but the feeling changed into annoyance in a matter of seconds.

"Why do people carry swords?" he answered with a question, putting all the sarcasm in disdain into his voice he could muster.

"You're a bender," the teen from the Water Tribe answered as if it somehow made having swords pointless.

Maybe it was for some people. He knew his uncle could easily defeat an armed opponent or another bender. So could Azula for the matter and the two girlfriends of the avatar were very close to reaching this level. Unfortunately, he did not qualify to this league.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own _Avatar: The Last Airbender_.

**Fifth Wheel**

"You're not a forest person," Sokka stated, after Zuko stepped on a twig and caused their lunch-to-be to run away.

"How did you guess?" Zuko rolled his eye.

It wasn't that he didn't hunt before – just not like this. Before there were dogs and the noise helped you hunt, because the animals run away from it and run straight into to you. Now… Now he needed to be careful, quiet and watch where he was walking. He had to stay focused on the task at hand, not get side-tracked, which just happened. It was hard not to start thinking of something else when you had to stare at what was under your feet, because what was under your feet was boring.

His musing were broken by an yelp and a loud crack. He turned to find out that Sokka tripped and while falling managed to break several twigs. Another lunch-to-be run off.

"Well, you're not a forest person either," the banished prince stated, offering Sokka his hand.

Somehow the other teen suddenly seemed a much more likeable.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own _Avatar: The Last Airbender._

**Fifth Wheel**

Usually, if Sokka staid awake to keep guard, he did so alone. Now it changed. Zuko decided that he'd keep him company. It wasn't something Sokka expected, but he didn't protest. His sister and Aang joked he must be sick and were rather certain Zuko was.

"I feel like I shouldn't have suggested helping anybody," the prince muttered gloomily.

Sokka blinked, and then slapped his own forehead. Sometimes, he really thought he was the only person with a brain here.

"Don't hurry so much," he replied, grinning in a way which he thought was mysterious and wise. "Girls don't like it."

Zuko glared at him. He clearly missed the fact that it was a joke and he assumed that Sokka was making fun of him.

"Ha-ha," he answered dryly. "You could have said you don't want company. I wouldn't have minded leaving you alone and letting you bore yourself to tears."

"I was joking, Your Highness," Sokka replied sounding insulted. "Geeze."

"Well, I don't have a sense of humour."

They sat in silence for some time, both annoyed. Finally, Sokka decided he should make matters clear, since he was the one with more sense than temper.

"They're not used to you trying to help," he said trying best to sound nonchalant. "Have some patience."

Judging from Zuko's expression this thought didn't occur to him.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own _Avatar: The Last Airbender_.

**Fifth Wheel**

Sokka didn't get it. In the forest, Zuko had the uncanny ability of stepping on the driest twigs, which inevitably cracked and scared of the animal they were trying to catch. In the river, he'd always speak up when Sokka was about to catch the fish. In the towns, Zuko could remain unnoticed without much trouble…

After a moment, Sokka decided that in certain circumstances this probably wouldn't apply. The prince of the Fire Nation tended to have this kind of rotten luck, which amazed by it's sheer bad-luckiness.

"How do you do that?" he asked, when the trip for supplies was over.

"Can't you see?" Zuko replied, tossing a bag of their food on Appa's back.

"Not that," Sokka waved his hand dismissingly. "I can do that too. I mean… the creeping about and hiding stuff."

The other young man paused, thoughtfully scratching his eyebrow.

"I trained," he finally replied.

Sokka decided that he'd better not ask why. It might just be just one of those topics Zuko wouldn't talk about. After all, why would a prince train hiding?


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own _Avatar: The Last Airbender._

**Fifth Wheel**

"Are you sure it won't be poisonous?" Katara asked, watching Zuko and Sokka from a safe distance. They wouldn't be able to hear what she and Toph were saying.

"Yes," the blind girl waved her hand dismissively. "They'll have to eat it too."

They giggled when Zuko growled out something rather inappropriate and started sucking his finger. As skilled with swords as he was, he had trouble with peeling simple vegetables. It probably was lack of experience with such matters, but it still amused the two girls, even if Toph couldn't peel anything either.

XxX

"I think she planned this," Sokka muttered.

Zuko pulled his finger out of his mouth, noting that he was still bleeding with annoyance. He _hated_ peeling.

"Oh, she did, didn't she?" he asked, sounding annoyed. The cut was getting on his nerves. He could use a sword, so why did a small knife prove so troublesome?

"I wonder if she can cook…" Sokka mused.

Zuko turned his head to look at the other teen with a intrigued expression. This was still Sokka, wasn't it?


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own _Avatar: The Last Airbender._

**Fifth Wheel**

"You have to be more…" Zuko paused, frowning. "Natural. Yeah. Natural."

Aang gave him and Sokka a rather doubtful look. Last time when he asked the boy from the Water Tribe for advice with his love life, it didn't work at all. And now both Zuko and Sokka were saying the same thing. He should be aloof.

"But I was aloof!" Aang protested.

"See…" Sokka scratched his nose.

"You flaunt it," Zuko said with an air of finality.

Aang wasn't sure how one flaunted being aloof, but it sounded like it was a grave mistake.

They all sat in silence contemplating the difficult art of wooing girls. Well, Sokka thought of it in general – Zuko thought of Aang trying to do this with Katara and Aang sank into a daydream about her.

It wasn't very surprising that they all freaked out when the object of Aang's crush stopped and decided to voice her opinion.

"Don't listen to them, Aang," Katara said. "Girls like nice guys."

After she left, Sokka thoughtfully rubbed his chin.

"I think she meant girls like good-looking guys…" he said thoughtfully. As far as he could remember nice or not nice didn't play such a big role, if you went by Katara's standards.

Then the two teens looked critically at Aang. They thought the same thing: this won't work…


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own _Avatar: the Last Airbender. _

* * *

**Fifth Wheel**

Zuko made a really weird face. Well, his scar tended not to help when he was being expressive most of the time, but this one beat even the ones where he'd have his healthy eye wide open and the other one still narrowed. It wasn't that he was angry, shocked or anything like that; no, his expression was something between nostalgia and disgust. And he was drinking tea. That was **weird**.

Sokka stared. It didn't exactly work, if you had thought Zuko to be a… well, sort of a dark tricky deceiver. Especially, that after having been noticed Zuko's face reddened and he put the tea down, and generally looked really miserable.

"You could ask Katara to make you some tea, if you can't make your own," Sokka magnanimously suggested.

Judging from Zuko's reaction it wasn't about who made the tea. So Sokka waited. He was quite sure that if he waited long enough Zuko would give him some clue. You could count on Zuko when it came to bluttering things out.

"I miss my uncle," Zuko said in a small voice.

Sokka waited. Frankly speaking, this wasn't that unexpected. Zuko might have been a complete jerk to his uncle during the fight in Ba Sing Se, but now—assuming his outlook changed and he was struggling with being nice and humble and all the jazz—it made sense for him to miss his uncle. Still, it didn't explain the tea. There was bound to be a follow up. For a good measure Sokka added an intense stare. Nothing made people squirm like an intense stare.

"The tea reminds me of him," the Firebender explained. "Um… It's just that I hate tea."

Sokka stared, only this time in bewilderment. Slowly, ever so slowly, he wrapped his brain around that answer. It twitched several times and bended in a funny way, before he finally grasped what Zuko just said, he was sure of it.

"You're such a hopeless…" Sokka groaned, searching for the right word, "…_mushpile_."

* * *

_A/N:_

_Well, I got inspired to write this by the last two episodes. It takes place either in a different continuity than the previous drabbles or somewhere between the first two and the later ones._

_What else? Zuko needs a hug. 'Cause he's a mushpile. _


End file.
